Ravenna
For other places named Ravenna, see Ravenna (disambiguation).Ravenna is a
city and commune in the
Emilia-Romagna region of
Italy. The city is inland, but is connected to the
Adriatic Sea by a canal. Ravenna once served as the seat of the
Roman Empire and later the
Ostrogothic kingdom. It is presently the capital of the
province of Ravenna.
|
Piazza del Popolo in Ravenna. |
Early history
The origins of Ravenna are uncertain. The first settlement is variously attributed to the
Tyrrhenians, the
Thessalians, or the
Umbrians. Ravenna consisted of houses built on piles on a series of small islands in a marshy lagoon - a situation similar to
Venice several centuries later. The Romans ignored it during their conquest of the
Po River Delta, but later accepted it as a federated town into the
Roman Republic in
89 BCE. In
49 BCE, it was the location where
Julius Caesar gathered his forces before crossing the
Rubicon. Later, after his battle against
Mark Anthony in
45 BCE, Emperor
Augustus founded the military harbor of Classe. This harbor, protected at first by its own walls was an important station of the
Roman imperial fleet. Nowadays the city is landlocked, but Ravenna remained an important
seaport on the
Adriatic until the early
Middle Ages. During the German campaigns,
Thusnelda, widow of
Arminius, and
Marbod, King of the
Marcomanni, were confined at Ravenna.
Ravenna greatly prospered under Roman rule. Emperor
Trajan built a 70 kilometer long
aqueduct at the beginning of the 2nd century CE. In
402,
Emperor Honorius transferred the capital of the
Western Roman Empire from
Milan to Ravenna. The transfer was made primarily for defensive purposes: Ravenna was surrounded by swamps and marshes and had ease of access to Imperial forces of the
Eastern Roman Empire. However, in
409, King
Alaric of the
Visigoths simply bypassed Ravenna, and went on to sack
Rome and to take
Galla Placidia, daughter of Emperor
Theodosius I, hostage. After many vicissitudes, Galla Placidia returned to Ravenna with her son, Emperor
Valentinian III and the support of her uncle
Theodosius II. Ravenna enjoyed a period of unprecedented peace, during which time the Christian religion flourished, and the city gained its most famous monuments, both secular (demolished) and Christian (largely preserved).
In 476, the Western Roman Empire fell. Eastern Emperor
Zeno sent
Ostrogoth King
Theodoric the Great to re-take the Italian peninsula. After the
Battle of Verona,
Odoacer retreated to Ravenna, where he withstood a siege of three years by Theodoric, until the taking of
Rimini deprived Ravenna of supplies. After Theodoric slew Odoacer, Ravenna was the capital of the
Ostrogothic kingdom of Italy.
|
Contemporary mosaic of the Palace of Theodoric. |
After
493, Theodoric employed Roman architects for secular and religious structures, including the lost palace near San Apollinare Nuovo; the "Palazzo di Teodorico" was an outbuilding. Theodoric and his followers were
Arians, but co-existed peacefully with the Latins. Theodoric died in 526 and was succeeded by his daughter
Amalasunta, who was killed in 535.
However,
Byzantine Emperor
Justinian I was fanatically orthodox, and opposed both Ostrogoth rule and the Arian cult. In 535 CE he invaded Italy and in 540 conquered Ravenna. Ravenna became the seat of Byzantine government in Italy (see also
Gothic War).
Exarchate of Ravenna
Following the conquests of
Belisarius for the Emperor
Justinian I in the sixth century, Ravenna became the seat of the
Byzantine governor of Italy, the
Exarch, and was known as the
Exarchate of Ravenna. It was at this time that the
Ravenna Cosmography was written.
Medieval and modern history
The
Lombards, under
King Liutprand, occupied Ravenna in
712, but were forced to return it to the Byzantines. However, in
751 the Lombard king
Aistulf succeeded in conquering Ravenna, thus ending Byzantine rule in northern Italy.
|
The Mausoleum of Theodoric. |
King
Pepin of France attacked the Lombards under orders of
Pope Stephen II. Ravenna then became territory of the
Papal States in
784. In return,
Pope Adrian I authorized King
Charlemagne to take away anything from Ravenna that he liked. Charlemagne made three looting expeditions to Ravenna, removing a vast quantity of Roman columns, mosaics, statues and other portable items to enrich his capital of
Aachen.
Under Papal rule, the
archbishop of Ravenna enjoyed
autocephaly from the Roman Church - a privilege obtained under Byzantine rule. Due to donations by the
Ottonian emperors, the archbishop of Ravenna was the richest in Italy after the Papacy, and was thus successfully able to challenge the temporal authority of the Pope on occasion.
At the end of the 12th century, with the rise of the free cities, Ravenna lost its
hinterland. Power rotated among the influential local families: the Traversarys, Rasponis and Polentarys. One of the most illustrious residents of Ravenna at this time was the exiled poet
Dante. In 1512, during the
Holy League wars, Ravenna was sacked by the French.
From 1441-1509, Ravenna was ruled by
Venice. After the Venetian withdrawal, Ravenna was again ruled by legates of the
Pope as one of the
Papal States. The city was damaged in a tremendous flood in May 1636. Over the next 3 centuries, a network of canals diverted nearby rivers and drained nearby swamps, thus reducing the possibility of flooding and creating a large belt of agricultural land around the city.
Ravenna and the surrounding
Romagna area became part of the
Kingdom of Italy in
1861.
Eight early Christian monuments of Ravenna are inscribed on the
World Heritage List. These are
*
Neonian Baptistery (c. 430)
*
Mausoleum of Galla Placidia (c. 430)
*
Arian Baptistry (c. 500)
*
Archiepiscopal Chapel (c. 500)
*
Basilica of Sant'Apollinare Nuovo (c. 500)
*
Mausoleum of Theodoric (520)
*
Basilica of San Vitale (548)
*
Basilica of Sant' Apollinare in Classe (549)
Other tourist attractions include:
*the ancient church of the
Spirito Santo, which has mantained the original lines from the 5th century. It was originally an Arian temple. The façade has a noteworthy 16th century portico with 5 arcades. The church of
St. John the Evangelist is also from the 5th century, erected by
Galla Placidia after a seastorm. It was restored after the World War II bombings.
*the
St. Francis basilica, rebuilt in the 10th-11th centuries over a precedent edifice dedicated to the Apostles and later to St. Peter. Behind the humble brick façade, it has a nave and two aisles. Fragments of mosaics from the primitive church are visible on the floor, which is usually covered by water after heavy rains (together with the crypt). Here the funeral ceremony of
Dante Alighieri was held in
1321. The poet is buried in a
tomb annexed to the church.
*the
Baroque church of
Santa Maria Maggiore (525-532, rebuilt in
1671). It houses a picture by
Luca Longhi. Also of Baroque style is the church of
San Giovanni Battista 1683, with a Middle Ages belfry.
*the basilica of
Santa Maria in Porto (16th century), with a rich façade from the 18th century. It has a nave and two aisles, with a high cupola. It houses the image of famous
Greek Madonna, which was allegedly brought to Ravenna from Constantinople. The nearby Communal Gallery has various works from Romagnoli painters.
* the
Rocca Brancaleone ("Brancaleone Castle"), built by the
Venetians in
1457. Once part of the city walls, it is now a public park. It is divided into two parts: the true Castle and the Citadel, the latter having an extent of 14,000 m
2.
*the so-called
Palace of Theoderic, in fact the entrance to the former church of San Salvatore. it includes mosaics from the true Palace of the Ostrogoth king.
*the church of
Santa Eufemia (18th century), gives access to the so-called
Stone Carpets Domus (6th-7th century): this houses splendid mosaics from a Byzantine palace.
*the
National Museum.
Ravenna has an important commercial and tourist port.
By road, it can be reached through from the highway hub of
Bologna or, from
Venice, with State Road 309 "Romea". From Rome the fastest connections is the E45 International Road; the other main connection to southern Italy is the State Street 16 "Adriatica".
The railroad station has connections to
Bologna,
Venice,
Verona and
Rimini.
The nearest airports are those of
Forlì and
Bologna.
*
Official SiteRavenna, A Study (1913) by Edward Hutton, from
Project Gutenberg*
Catholic Encyclopedia: Ravenna's early history and its monuments
*
ItalianVisits.com*
Adrian Fletcher's Paradoxplace Ravenna Pages (photos)
